Sustainable Development Indicators, 2012

The latest National Statistics on Sustainable Development Indicators produced by the Welsh Government were released on 29 August 2012 according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.

The ‘In Your Pocket’ booklet on Sustainable Development Indicators for Wales 2012 provides measures of everyday concerns including health, housing, jobs, crime, education and our environment. The statistical release presents some background to the publication, and a summary table from the booklet.

The booklet is similar to the UK report Measuring Progress: Sustainable Development Indicators published in July 2010. Previous versions of the Welsh booklet presented a comparison with UK indicators, however, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is currently developing a new set of sustainable development indicators for the UK government, so have not published updated UK Sustainable Development Indicators for 2012. Therefore, comparisons with UK indicators have not been included in the release or the ‘In Your Pocket’ booklet.

The summary table from the publication shows that:

• 19 of 44 indicator assessments show a clear improvement;
• 21 of 44 indicator assessments show little or no change;
• 1 of 44 indicator assessments show clear deterioration;
• 3 of 44 indicator assessments have insufficient or no comparable data.

The ‘In Your Pocket’ booklet will be updated annually to help monitor progress towards sustainable development in Wales.